One Project Leads to Another

Last fall I published a post about a long time project regarding our master closet had finally come to fruition that you can read about here.  Since then I still get a bit of a thrill when I go into our closet, we've kept it neat and organized, but that's easy when the space works for your needs.

The one thing we hadn't done at that point was new carpeting for our master suite which also includes the closet.  We still had the old cheap contractor grade carpet in there.

It took me a few weeks to find a carpet I liked and then find a carpet installer, but finally in late October we replaced the 13 year old cheap carpeting with some beautiful griege Mohawk carpeting with a premium pad underneath.

Well, once that beautiful new carpet was installed, I could see how badly the room needed a coat of paint.  We had only painted the wall behind the bed as an accent wall in the 14 years we've been here, but the rest was the same contractor white; SW Dover White.  Our challenge in painting this room is we need at least a 10 foot ladder to get to the peaks of the bedroom and we don't own one that tall, so we had to rent one (little did we know that a very good friend had one that we could have borrowed.)

I decided to stay with the griege that I've painted the majority of the house with; Sherwin Williams Repose Gray.  Because of the woodwork, a gray with hints of beige works well in this house.

So, the painting project took up another weekend while we were still sleeping in the queen sized guest room bed and maneuvering around bedroom furniture and stuff stowed in the hallway and that guest room for at least a week.

Once we were able to put things back into the room, I needed to find a new headboard.  Our bedroom furniture is very heavy solid wood pieces and I wanted to lighten it up a bit with a wrought iron look plus it would match the black wrought iron drawer pulls on the furniture.  After a long search, I found this one at Birch Lane.

We also needed to lighten up our linens.  I stayed with the same gray and plum that we both like but found a new comforter set at Bed, Bath & Beyond for a really reasonable price.  I don't like to spend a lot of money on our bedding because our pets sleep with us and well....pet hair.  😀

I found the windows and clock above the bed at Gordman's and those bendable lights at each end of the headboard are clip on reading lights from IKEA.

The lamp on my night stand is also from IKEA as is the paper ball lantern hanging above one of my book shelves.  Funny story about that "book case".....15 years ago we used it for a pantry in the bungalow we lived in and when we moved here I took the door off and have used it as a book case ever since.

Here's the entry door to the room on the left and on the right is our master closet (we took the door off and are storing it in our basement), we like it better without.  It you look beyond the entry door, you get a peek at my craft room.

This is my dresser and on the top is where the jewelry I wear the most is stored.  I have four different jewelry hangers, a beautiful gilded one that looks like a tree branch with a small bird in the middle one I got on clearance at Pier 1, another tree branch hanger I found at Urban Outfitters, a small tree branch style that sits in a saucer I use for my most worn earrings.  I found that one at Target and behind that door is a hanging armoire for my costume jewelry I don't wear that often nut not quite ready to get rid of.

Here's the view from the entry door where you can see the bay windows, window seat and high beamed ceilings.  That ceiling fan is never leaving, we upgraded it years ago but it's a necessity for me during summer time and even some times in the winter if the air is stuffy.  The beams are lighted and look really nice at night.  

I really didn't want to buy new pillows for our window seat because they can get pricey and I still liked the ones we have, so when hunting for new bedding, I kept those pillows in mind.  They all came from either Pier 1 or Target and they did work perfect with the new bedding.

Here's another photo of this view that you can see the tall book shelf I purchased at IKEA last fall.  I also bought a nightstand for the spouse to use.  They are part of the HEMNES series and I chose a gray washed finish to again break up all the natural wood.  The spouse's lamp came from Target.

This is my nightstand.  There is just enough room for a cat to sleep on it, like our Tucker does sometimes.

We both love the way it turned out and how cozy it feels both in the daylight and at night.

Thanks for stopping by and on to the next project, but that one is outside.........

Boob Lights

Ha!  Thought it was going to be something else didn't you?

No, this is the tale of the final three light fixtures in our home that needed updating and I called them our "boob lights" in cheap gold no less.

Do not ask me why it took us 14 years to replace these.  We've replaced every light fixture in our home but these and one in our son's bathroom aka the.place.we.do.not.enter.  These are just as awful as the cheap three round bulb fixtures over the bathroom vanity lights the builder installed that we replaced.

Thankfully lighting doesn't have to be pricey.  It certainly can be, some of the most beautiful fixtures I've seen run in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.  We don't have that kind of budget plus part of the thrill for me is the hunt to find what I want for as less as I can.

I found our new ones at Wayfair and I think there a BIG improvement over those awful "boob" light fixtures.

Like other things that we replace, I took the boob lights to our local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store.  One person's trash is another person's treasure.  I hope they find their forever home.

What I'm Reading = Bread

I just finished a delightful book called "Sourdough" by Robin Sloan and you guessed it, it's a book about making Sourdough bread, well, the book is so much more than that, but reading about the process of making bread made ME want to make some bread too.

I have a bread making machine that my grandmother re-gifted to me because she never used it and we have used it in the past and it works great but I've also read and been told that we can bake a loaf of bread in a cast iron French oven and I just happen to have a few of those also, plus I can then use my experience as a marketing tool at my part time job selling French cookware.

There are a lot of bread recipes out there if you're going to use a French oven to bake.  Most of the information I was reading stated that it's better to use no knead dough for French oven baking.   My first foray was using the first recipe I found using Chef Google.  Four simple ingredients; flour, yeast, salt and warm water.

I wish I could say that my first try was a completely successful, but I can't.  It's wasn't a complete failure, but I think I know where I went wrong and I will correct those things the next time I try which will probably be in the next couple of days because the aroma in the house alone was worth it.

As you can see, it looked beautiful coming out of the oven but I messed up and cut into it too soon (how can you resist with the smell?) AND after all that, I realized I forgot the salt.  lol

So, the next time, I have a recipe from King Arthur Flour - No Knead Crusty White Bread and I've read the following article on their website; Bread Baking in a Dutch Oven and I'm going to give it another whirl........this time I may try the cold Dutch Oven method they suggest also; Bread Baking in a cold Dutch oven

I'm keep you posted...the upside of all this experimentation is how good our house smells.